Amazon has been promising the ability to embed book previews on external websites for over 10 years. It's now possible and we already started to do so last month.

The facility to share Kindle samples is something that Amazon announced back in 2010 when Kindle for the Web first appeared in beta. We've been on the look out for it ever since as we thought it would nicely complement our book reviews and add value to Book Watch. 

Having raised expectations that were then not fulfilled the term "Kindle for the Web" was quietly dropped and when the Kindle Cloud Reader was launched it didn't bring with it the facility to share samples on external websites such as blogs. e-zines and review sites.

When the Embed feature did arrive it wasn't even announced - perhaps the fact it was some five years overdue made Amazon reluctant to give it a fanfare. It was not exactly chance that we noticed it one day in early 2016, but it wasn't as a result of being told about it either. Instead a new Share option just appeared on the Amazon,com site - and hasn't yet spread to other Amazon regional sites.

Meanwhile the latest edition of the Kindle Direct Publishing newsletter, which is hardly a mass media e-publication, includes news of Kindle Instant Book Previews and leads to an otherwise obscure page that states:

We all know how easy it is to share our favorite pictures and videos online. Now you can just as easily share your favorite book with Kindle instant previews so anyone can start reading the book for free.

As well as providing easy to follow instructions, which are superfluous as the interactive process that generates the embed code for you is very easy, it showcases two examples of sites that were early adopters.

As you are probably well aware, I Programmer takes a real interest in books that are directly or indirectly related to computer software and technology. When it comes to full reviews members of the team select titles that match their interests and as a result produce reviews that are informative and authoritative.We use a 5-point rating system which takes into account the intended audience as well as the reviewers opinion. Now, as well as telling you about the content and style of a book, we can give readers an instant opportunity to form their own impressions, albeit only on a sample selected by the publisher.

The facility is particularly helpful in Book Watch where we give details of new and recently released titles. The latest Book Watches are listed on our front page and now if you click the Full Story button - or click on the title in Book Watch Archive - you find the preview included. You don't need a Kindle or a Kindle app to read it. it simply opens in a new browser window.

Note this is an illustration not a live preview - for that see any recent book review or book watch!

Why it has taken Amazon so long to implement this feature remains a mystery. There is some resistance on the part of technical publishers to produce Kindle versions and in the case of programming titles it is easy to see why. One of the so-called advantages of Kindle is that it automatically adjusts text to fit the device and the users choice of font size. This may be great for fiction where page layout is of no consequence, it plays havoc with code. So don't be surprised not to find a Kindle preview for some of the titles we select for inclusion in Book Watch and for full review.

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